Luke Mitchell is Innocent: Who is the Mystery Man who Confessed?

Short Summary

In the summer of 2003, 14-year-old Jodi Jones was found deceased behind a wall in Dalkeith, Edinburgh, by her boyfriend Luke Mitchell’s dog. The body was approximately 13m from a V-break opening in the wall where the stones had deteriorated. The discovery of the body by the dog was agreed at the time by everyone including Jodi’s family, until it came to trial when they changed their statements to incriminate Luke to suggest that he knew where the body was already. This ‘guilty knowledge’ was one of the prosecutions main pieces of “evidence” to convict, suggesting Luke knew it was here as he killed her.

From the discovery of the body, the only suspect who was ever officially investigated and charged with murder was her boyfriend Luke, despite numerous contradictory witness statements and no forensic evidence of him on Jodi, or visa versa. Over 15 years later, Luke is still incarcerated in HMP Shotts, Scotland. He is due to turn 31 this year and has created more memories in prison than he has outside.

Overall, the police investigation from the outset was flawed; other people were witnessed at the murder scene, such as John Ferris (Jodis cousin), Gordon Dickie (Jodis second cousin), a local cyclist passing named Leonard Kelly who heard strangling sounds from across the wall, Steven Kelly (Jodis sisters fiancé), and a mystery man following Jodi onto the path.

Additionally, numerous items of DNA were recovered from the body, none of which was EVER identified as being from Luke. A moped used by Ferris and Dickie was also discovered to have been seen leaning against the V-break in the wall at the estimated time of the murder, and they were unable to explain why they were there. They were let free without any further enquiry as Mitchell was already firmly in the frame, and had even lied to police as to when they were there.

The case, in my opinion, was ‘trial-by-media’ and absolutely stinks of a miscarriage of justice. Luke wasn’t there at all. The witness statements could not accurately account for him being there, whilst also accounting for him having time to come home, dispose of incriminating evidence, and go back out again. On the other hand, a mystery man was seen by a witness following closely behind Jodi as she entered one end of the path closest to her house.

Recently, a shocking revelation has since emerged about this man - he admitted it was him behind Jodi, and has confessed to the murder. A senior Police official took the confession from this person and has since informed both Luke Mitchell’s mother, Corrine, and Luke’s Power of Attorney, Dr Sandra Lean (criminologist). This person was witnessed at the time, but has only in the past few years admitted to the murder.

The theory I have is this: mystery man followed Jodi down the path as he knew that’s where she was going (indicating he knew her very well) and was subsequently intercepted by Ferris and Dickie, which occurred through a pre-planned arrangement. Jodi was then either manipulated to climb through the V-break in the wall, or she was forced through. She was then murdered by mystery man, whilst Ferris and Dickie acted as not only key witnesses, but accomplices.

Corrine and Sandra also hold the theory that the moped and other incriminating evidence was disposed of in a scrapyard following this, as Ferris and Dickie were simply there to help. It wouldn’t have been difficult for Ferris and Dickie to get to the locus either, as their house in Reed Drive along The Beeches was directly behind this area.

Overall, Luke was nowhere near the scene at the time of the murder. We now have a solid confession, albeit over 15 years later. We have witness statements who heard strangling sounds from behind the wall. We have witness statements who seen the moped owned by either Ferris or Dickie learning against the wall, with no sign of anyone. We also, in addition to this, have DNA from multiple other males on the body - none of this was Luke’s.

Does anyone have any other theories?

Names mentioned above, revelations and details of this post can be found in Corrine Mitchell’s interview with James English on YouTube, and also in Sandra’s new book Innocents Betrayed.

Until mystery man confessed, I had my theory that it could have been Jodi’s sisters fiancé, Steven Kelly, who followed her. His sperm was positively identified on the body too, which is absolutely bizarre to say the least given Jodi and her sister stayed in different homes. Nonetheless, I’ve replaced Kelly with mystery man now due to the confession.

Again to recap - mystery man follows Jodi, who is then intercepted by the two on the moped. Jodi is murdered. Body is left to rot, while evidence is destroyed. Family cover their tracks. Luke is blamed for murder.

Jodi was basically ambushed by at least three assailants who were all known to her.

What do you think? Who is this mystery man who has confessed? Does anyone have any inside insight into this case?

Look forward to your input...

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

activ8

Grant's been a bad boy, framing his brother like that.

Reply 2

CoolBreeze89

Sensible inputs are welcome

Original post by activ8

Grant's been a bad boy, framing his brother like that.

Reply 3

ExScene

This might be a necro, but I thought I'd give you some information. I grew up around the Cockburn Street scene in Edinburgh of which Luke was a part off. From the get go, it was well established that Luke's brother was very disturbed. I was friends with people who knew the family personally who attested to the brutal killing of a family dog by Luke's brother. The generally sentiment around people familiar with all three actors was that Luke's brother was the killer. Luke was just an easy target for the police at the time.